Mangaluru: To mark the anniversary of the Traffic Warden Squad, various awareness programmes were organized and the valedictory programme of traffic week was held at the Police commissioner’s office here on October 2.

The programme began with an invocation. DCP Dr Sanjeev Patil welcomed the gathering.

Addressing the gathering Padma Bhushan Dr B M Hegde said, “Mangaluru is a good city and Mangaloreans are very nice, I am ready to help Mangaloreans to make the city better. I am also very much interested in being a Traffic warden. We see very good police officers coming to serve in Mangaluru. The present police commissioner is a very dedicated person because being an aeronautical engineer, he has chosen to serve the country. He could have made a lot of money by taking up a job in the IIT. The present education system is only to make money. But Chandra Sekhar has chosen to serve the country instead of joining the IIT where he could have earned in crores. I really salute Chandra Sekhar for his dedication towards the country”.

He further said, “The aim of education should be to make a healthy mind. Commissioner sir has a healthy mind so he has joined the police department. If a police officer is transparent he is the richest man. Education must create a healthy mind. All humans need to have a healthy mind if everyone’s mind is healthy, we do not need traffic wardens, the traffic problems will automatically be solved. Over the period of time, we are still struggling to get past this mental slavery. Our culture and education system was killed by the British long back as they found that this was the only way to rule India and they ruled us for 350 years.”

Dr Hegde further stressed, “Healthy mind means those who do not see the doctor. When we go to the doctor, we will become patients. A man or woman who sees a doctor is a patient. All of us have health issues. We all have 25 to 50 cancer cells which are destroyed by our body when we have a healthy mind. If we go to the doctor, our body will be bombarded with various doses of medicines and surgery. There is enough medicine already in our body. The day we understand real science, we will stop reaching out to drugs, sit in tranquil and the body will cure itself. Health means, Enthusiasm to work and Enthusiasm for compassion. We came to this world for others. If anyone has cancer, and if they have the enthusiasm to work and compassion, the cancer cells will themselves be destroyed. Human beings have an ego like I, me, myself. I-means sick, w-we means healthy. Whoever works with integrity, he/she will be healthy. Every day in our life we need to think of others and help others to keep ourselves happy. People of Mangaluru are good, we should think that we all are one, If we all have such thoughts we can make Mangaluru a better place to live in. We should stay active even after our retirement to lead a healthy life.

Anyone working with integrity will not be praised but if you loot and earn you will be respected. Students should be taught civics right from the elementary class because, that is the age, which the child grasps everything.

Cheif Traffic warden Joe Gonsalves spoke on the occasion and administered the oath to the traffic wardens.

Police commissioner Chandra Sekhar in his presidential address said that it was the vision of former police commissioner Murugan to start the traffic warden system in Mangaluru. I should thank him for his initiative because he had taken the first bold step which should be appreciated. The traffic warden system is not only to get some extra hands, we need responsible citizens, who can take care of themselves and also guide others.

Recalling the Uri incident Chandra Sekhar said, “Recently on our borders, our soldiers conducted raids because terrorists come and kill our citizens. If they do not raid there will be more bloodshed. We appreciated the sacrifice and duty of our soldiers who sacrificed their lives. Is it our duty to serve the nation, we can serve in Mangaluru or even in a village. Serving the nation means not only going to one particular place, we can serve out the country in many ways. If you look at any accident, 99% of the accidents are because of ego, one-upmanship, we are always over smart. A person following lane discipline and following traffic rules is called a useless driver because he will reach his destination late than the so called very good driver nowadays who will somehow squeeze through traffic and reach the destination early. We ourselves advise people not to violate traffic rules and if we violate the rules people will speak about us. If we want to be a so-called very good driver we need to jump lanes and squeeze in through gaps creating problems to others. If we try to become a good driver this way we will create pain and misery for ourselves and for others.”

He also said that our buses stop whenever and wherever they find the passengers, this is not the fault of only the driver but also to the person who stops the bus who cannot walk 10 meters away to the bus stop. Tomorrow when the driver rides a two-wheeler he may also face the same problem when the bus in front of him suddenly stops. We need to think of others also because when we think of others they also will start to think of us. Please develop the same concern with others so that this world will be a better place to live in. We are observing the first anniversary and we wanted to have a week long traffic programme. Our intention is to bring awareness to the people about the traffic warden squad which is doing a good job under the able guidance of Chief traffic warden Joe Gonsalves. We cannot work in isolation. There is a need to demystify our working also, we should involve more people and they should know what we are, what are the things that we can do and what we cannot do. If public opinion is there our work will be easier, the public should know why we have said no or why we have said yes for a particular issue. The more we involve or attract the public the perception will change and they will find us in a much way than what they have perceived about us and our work will be much easier. I wish the traffic warden system, it has been a small beginning but I feel that it will certainly grow.

ACP Uday Nayak delivered the vote of thanks. Chief Judicial magistrate Madan Gowda Patil, DCP Law and order Shantharaju and others were also present.